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Man Arrested in Stabbing of Cabdriver in Brooklyn

A 28-year-old man has been arrested on charges of fatally stabbing a livery-cab driver with an umbrella after what investigators said was an argument over the fare, the authorities said on Tuesday.

The defendant, Shamel Allen, had not yet been arraigned as of Tuesday afternoon, but he is expected to face manslaughter charges, the authorities said. Detectives found Mr. Allen hiding at the home of a female acquaintance, the authorities said.

The attack occurred on Thursday shortly after 5 p.m. in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Emergency responders found the driver, Uro Ama Orji, in his 2000 Mercury with a wound to the eye. An eyewitness told investigators that two passengers — a man and woman — had emerged from the vehicle. One of them, the man, had stabbed the driver with what appeared to be an umbrella before both of them fled, according to the witness’s account.

By Tuesday, the authorities said they had a fuller understanding of what had happened.

“Allen had argued with Mr. Uro, the livery driver, over the fare, asserting that he was being overcharged by a dollar,” the Police Department chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said. Then he “killed Mr. Uro with an umbrella jab to the eye,” Mr. Browne said.

Just how detectives came to suspect Mr. Allen is not clear. “Detectives did excellent work, obviously, but I’m constrained from providing details,” Mr. Browne said.

The livery-cab driver, who was 54, had immigrated from Nigeria about a decade ago. His five children had recently joined him in his East Flatbush apartment, fulfilling his dream of bringing his family to the United States.

Mr. Allen, of Brooklyn, has been arrested before, although those cases have been sealed and the circumstances of those arrests are unclear, the authorities said.

The identity of Mr. Allen’s lawyer could not be immediately determined.

A version of this article appears in print on June 19, 2013, on page A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Man Arrested In Stabbing Of Cabdriver In Brooklyn. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe